


Good Morning Sweetie

by ThereIsASong



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, River is naughty, The Doctor (Doctor Who) is a Gay Mess, The Doctor can be a little thick
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:48:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28787454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThereIsASong/pseuds/ThereIsASong
Summary: The Doctor and River almost always fall asleep together and the Doctor almost always wakes first, staying next to River to ward off her nightmares. The Doctor finds ways to keep herself busy, and River is never sure what she'll wake up to.This is a collection of short stories detailing "mornings" on the TARDIS. Each chapter is a stand-alone story.Each chapter is rated individually
Relationships: Graham O'Brien & River Song, The Doctor/River Song, Thirteenth Doctor & Yasmin Khan & Graham O'Brien & Ryan Sinclair, Thirteenth Doctor/River Song
Comments: 6
Kudos: 65





	1. Typical Morning

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be adding short stories about "mornings" on the TARDIS, which each chapter a different morning. Hoping this will be a fun exercise for me and that you enjoy. :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A typical morning on the TARDIS, as I see it.
> 
> Chapter rated G

River burrowed her cheek into the warm pillow as the haze of sleep melted away. She heard the soft, constant hum of the TARDIS and quiet metallic clanking – sounds which suggested that her wife was tinkering next to her.

She had learned years ago to sleep through almost any noise, light or jostling that the Doctor made. River didn’t need as much sleep as a regular human, but the Doctor needed even less. While they typically drifted off together, the Doctor was always up hours before River.

The Doctor had never liked sitting still, and this body especially hated it. But her wife stayed next to her while River slept, a sentinel guarding her against the nightmares that had plagued her every night before they met. It was the complete trust River had in the Doctor that allowed her to sleep soundly and have peaceful mornings like this.

River breathed in as she opened her eyes and felt her lungs expand in her relaxed, heavy body. She loved the feeling of drifting awake after a deep sleep, those precious few moments when the only things that drifted through were the soft and safe surroundings of her physical body.

River stretched her legs, feeling the muscles shudder and jump to life. She rolled toward the Doctor and slung her arm out, brushing the Doctor’s leg.

The Doctor was sitting cross-legged at the head of the bed, screwing something into a metal object. An array of small metal parts littered the duvet around her. She was still in her pajamas, short cotton briefs and a too-large t-shirt from a past, much more lanky body.

“Good Morning, Sweetie.” River muttered lazily, smiling softly up at her wife.

“River, you’re up!” The Doctor shouted cheerfully, a huge grin spreading across her face. She nearly shot out of the bed, heading quickly toward the closet as she spoke.

“You’ll never believe the idea I had. I think I know how to fix the weather program anomalies on Rafijadegous 6! We have _got_ to go show them!”

River propped herself on her elbows just in time to see the Doctor’s favorite outfit come flying out the closet to land at the foot of the bed, the Doctor right behind it. She started changing quickly, smiling as she energetically explained.

“I figured that if I could just put something together to re-orient the microconnectors on the tertiary electroconduits to the third level mainframe, it might open the way for the engineers to develop code to stabilize the patterns.”

Something in River’s face must have conveyed the message that it was far too early for her to follow the rapid gabbering coming from her wife, because the Doctor temporarily stopped trying to explain. River was the smartest person the Doctor knew, and she was sure she’s understand easily once she’d waken up a bit.

“Alright then.” River murmured. “Let’s go show it to them then.”

She flopped back down onto the bed, trying to muster the strength the meet her wife’s energy and enthusiasm so soon after waking.

The Doctor clipped one side of her suspenders in place before suddenly freezing.

“I almost forgot!” She said, her eyes growing wide.

“Forgot what?” River muttered, as the Doctor plopped next to River on the bed.

The Doctor leaned down and brushed River’s wild hair back, kissing her gently. River felt her body melt back into the bed as the Doctor cupped her face, her wife’s lips moving slowly and sweetly over hers.

The Doctor pulled back, smiling down at River.

“Good Morning Dear.”


	2. The Egg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That’s the last time I do you a favor, Doc.” Graham said, putting a pillar between himself and River.
> 
> “She nearly killed me!”
> 
> The Doctor smiled wistfully at River.
> 
> “Yeah, she does that. It’s sort of cute, it’s it? The Doctor said.
> 
> Chapter rated M

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that G rating didn't last long. Enjoy!

River breathed in the smell of her pillow and opened her eyes. She had been in the middle of a rather amazing dream featuring her lovely wife, and was a bit sorry to have been pulled from it. Still – she was almost certain that the Doctor wouldn’t mind picking up where her dream had left off. That woman was nothing if not enthusiastic.

River felt a smile light her face as she stretched languidly, her aroused body sensitive to the soft blanket draped over her back. She kept her head turned from the Doctor and spoke in the husky morning voice she knew her wife could never resist.

“Sweetie, I was in the middle of the most _wonderful_ dream.” River said, reaching her hand out to smooth over the Doctor’s skin.

“You were…” River’s hand made contact with someone that she could tell immediately was not her wife.

In less than a breath she was out of bed, her finger on the trigger of the blaster she hid behind her nightstand. Acting on instinct alone, she found herself stark naked and pointing a fully charged blaster point-blank at Graham.

He was sitting at the head of the bed on the Doctor’s side, a book in his hand and a look of shock on his face. He was – unlike River – blessedly clothed down to his white tube socks.

Luckily, River’s foggy morning brain registered him as friendly before she could shoot. Unfortunately, his unexpected presence had triggered a fight response she hadn’t had to deal with in quite some time.

River focused on taking deep breaths, still pointing the gun as she tried to calm her instincts as her focused, narrow eyes pierced Graham with intense anger. Adrenaline pumped through her shaky body, but her hands held the blaster impossibly steady.

“What The hell,” River said sharply, her lips curling around tense words. “Are you doing here?”

Graham was clearly terrified, whether of the blaster pointed at him or the shocking nakedness of his best friend’s wife, River wasn’t sure. He had one hand clasped tightly over his eyes and the other up in front of him, gesturing his innocence.

“Put that thing down!” Graham shouted. “It’s just me! The Doctor wanted me to sit with you for a minute, I was just reading my book!” His raised hand gestured toward the book, now flung open on the bed.

River breathed through her teeth several times as she lowered the blaster, her eyes still trained like a predator on its prey.

“You can lower your hands, Graham, I’m not going to hurt you.” River snapped, annoyed.

Graham hesitantly lowered both of his hands, quickly shutting his eyes again when saw that River was still completely naked.

“Can’t you put something on?” He complained.

River huffed and rolled her eyes. If that’s what he wanted to focus on right now, so be it. She pulled a silk robe off the back of the Doctor’s chair and wrapped it around her hastily, tying the sash.

“Where is she?” River asked, unsure whether to be concerned or furious at her absent wife.

Graham opened his eyes, hesitantly at first, then all the way.

“Just in the console room.” Graham said quickly, still wary of the fierce woman in front of him.

River turned on her heels, marching out of the bedroom and down the hall. Graham followed a distance behind, more than ready to be back with his human friends.

When River turned the corner to the console room, the Doctor had a jeweler’s magnifying headband strapped to her head and was inspecting what looked like a cantaloupe-sized fuchsia egg. Yaz was peering over her shoulder in interest, and Ryan was watching from a distance, looking vaguely bored.

River Song usually commanded the attention of everyone in a room, and this was especially true now. Her wild hair was untamed from sleep in a way that she usually only let the Doctor see, and she was wearing nothing but a very thin robe. Still, her stern features could have sent whole armies running with one glance.

The Doctor seemed the be the last to notice her arrival, still babbling to her friends about eggshell molecule pattern strength, when River cleared her throat pointedly.

The Doctor looked up, her words trailing off as she saw the way her wife’s mouth pursed into a small frown. That was never a good sign.

River gestured to Graham.

“Care to explain _this_?” River said, annoyed.

A wary smile bloomed across the Doctor’s face. A bolt of joy always ran through her when River, even when she was clearly very cross.

“Ah, You’re up!” the Doctor said, clearly surprised to see her. “I thought you’d be asleep for a while.”

River’s eyes made it clear that more explanation was needed, so she continued.

“Yaz came knocking, her and Ryan found this egg at a flea market,” She explained. “They suspected it was alien and wanted me to check it out. It has a small crack, so they were afraid it might be hatching.”

River remained silent, so the Doctor continued.

“And, well you know nature, you can’t exactly put off a hatching egg now can you? So I asked Graham to sit with you while I looked in to it. I didn’t want to leave you alone because of your… _you know_ …”

The Doctor mouthed the word “nightmares” and River rolled her eyes. Subtlety was not the Doctor’s strong suit.

“Graham has the most experience with wives out of anyone other than me, so I thought he’d be the obvious choice.”

The Doctor looked at River uncertainly, her face slightly scrunched in anticipation as she waited for River’s reaction to her explanation.

The tension had left River’s body, and she shook her head in exasperation.

“He scared the shit out of me.” She said, but her anger was gone.

“How did they come knocking anyway, I thought we were in the vortex?”

“Ah.” The Doctor said. “So did I. Seems you must have thought I flew her in, I thought you had.”

This time River laughed, her hand coming to her face before combing futilely through her wild hair. The Doctor smiled in relief.

“That’s the last time I do you a favor, Doc.” Graham said, putting a pillar between himself and River.

“She nearly killed me!”

The Doctor smiled wistfully at River.

“Yeah, she does that. It’s sort of cute, it’s it? The Doctor said.

“And she was naked!” Graham continued.

“I put a blanket over her.” The Doctor said defensively.

“That said, you’re the first person – human or otherwise - I’ve ever heard complain about seeing River naked.”

Graham looked at Ryan and Yaz with an unbelieving expression.

The Doctor went to River, putting a hand on her back and steering them down the hall, out of earshot of the Fam.

“Sorry River, I didn’t mean to startle you.” She whispered. “Not startling you was actually the point.”

River leaned against the wall, crossing her arms.

“I know my love.” She said. “It’s fine, actually sort of sweet. Although next time you could just wake me up.”

“But you looked so peaceful.” The Doctor said, bopping River on the nose. “I didn’t want to disturb you.”

River wrinkled her nose and smiled. She straightened up to whisper in the Doctor’s ear.

“You know, I was having quite a good dream when I woke up.” River said.

The Doctor smiled, but she was clearly not getting the point.

River took the Doctor’s hand in hers and guided it between her thighs.

“ _River_ is this really the time?” The Doctor looked toward the console room, where the Fam waited.

“Ohh.” The Doctor’s eyes widened, and she looked at River’s tempting smirk as she felt the wetness on her fingertips.

“That kind of dream.” She said, one eyebrow quirking suggestively.

“Mmm.” Agreed River.

“Now I’m _really_ sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up.” The Doctor said, her eyes flicking over the robe that clung to her wife’s body and landing on River’s lips, which were only a breath away.

“You better come make it up to me.” River whispered and caught the Doctor’s lips in a quick kiss that left the Doctor seeking more as she turned on her heels and padded down the hall to their room.

The Doctor watched River retreat, then turned on her heels and walked quickly out to the console room.

“Hey Fam!” She said in too high a voice. She picked up the egg and unexpectedly tossed it at Yaz, who squeaked in surprise as she barely caught it.

“This is an alien egg, but it’s not fertilized so you should be fine. Just don’t get it more than 7,000 feet under water.”

“River needs me to go help her…” The Doctor scratched the back of her head, trying desperately to think of a plausible excuse.

“Service her refrigerator.” The Doctor finished with a wide smile, pleased at her convincing story.

Yaz groaned and made a disgusted face, and Ryan turned on his heels and walked right out of the TARDIS.

“Let’s go Yaz, see you around Doc.” Graham said.

“Yeah, thanks for the help with the egg.” Yaz called, hurriedly gathering her coat.

As soon as the door shut behind them the Doctor pulled the lever to fly the TARIDS into the vortex. She was running down the corridor to her bedroom before the ship had even taken off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It absolutely makes my day to see comments. Sharing these thoughts gives me so much happiness, but especially when I know that others are enjoying. 
> 
> Also: Morning on the TARDIS prompt ideas? I'd love to hear them!


	3. The List

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Alright Sweetie.” River said in as a soothing a voice as she could muster. “You’re making a list. And what good will that do?”
> 
> The Doctor laughed, an unnatural, slightly manic sound.
> 
> “I don’t know River.” She said, shaking her head through a smile. “Maybe one day I can show it to however did this to me.”
> 
> River saw the cracks forming, the smile fading from the Doctor’s lips as she spoke through clenched teeth.
> 
> “Maybe someday I can show they just how many lives their lies cost.” She spat.
> 
> Chapter Rated T

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The world is tough right now, so I keep wanting to write fun fluff to put some positivity out into the world, maybe take your mind of of things for a moment. Unfortunately my world is tough as well, and the emotions I seem to need to process are grief, guilt and anger. 
> 
> Which leaves me writing things like this. So for now have some feelings and hopefully someday I'll be up for serving you some fluff. 
> 
> Hope everyone is hanging in there in this seemingly infinite pandemic.

River opened her eyes and let out a huff. According to her impeccable sense of time, she had only been asleep for 54 minutes. Her mind was fuzzy and her body heavy with sleep, and she rolled over to snuggle closer to the Doctor before she was dragged back into unconsciousness. The Doctor usually slept for at least a few hours with her, and River took every opportunity for a cuddle.

Instead of her wife, River was met with cold, empty sheet. The Doctor was not, but rather sitting on her pillow, hunched over and scribbling furiously in the dim light of her bedside lamp. The shape of her body was angled with tensed muscles.

River pushed herself up on her elbows and brushed the hair out of her face, squinting to focus her bleary eyes.

“What are you doing Sweetie?” River asked, her voice thick with sleep.

The Doctor startled and jumped slightly as her head shot up. The tension in her face accentuated the worry lines on her forehead. Her eyes were red rimmed from holding back tears and the look of pain there sent a shiver of alertness through River.

River pushed herself up and over to the Doctor, lifting one hand to cradle her cheek while the other grasped her arm protectively.

“I just realized something.” The Doctor said, removing River’s hand from her face with her own. “Since I can’t die, since I just keep regenerating…” Her voice trailed off as her eyes clouded over, lost in thought.

“Yes?” River prompted.

“Oh.” The Doctor said calmly. “It’s just that, everyone who has ever died to save me, or in place of me, has died for nothing.”

She spoke without emotion, which was never a good sign. River knew this more often than not meant that there was far too much emotion for her wife to handle, and that when it did eventually break through the carefully constructed walls the Doctor had built, the ramifications would be significant.

“Anyway.” The Doctor plastered on an unsettling fake smile, not quite meeting her wife’s eyes. “I thought I would make a quick list of people who died for nothing.”

River pulled away from the Doctor and sat back on her heels. She knew she needed to tread carefully when her wife got like this. Hiding behind that flimsy smile was thousands of years of rage and self-loathing.

It was moments like these when River wished she was better at the touchy-feely comforting. She had learned a few tricks from her long marriage – and several self-help books.

She had worked hard on not being so quick to jump to anger or violence or trying to fix the problem in the way that she had been raised. She still wasn’t great in these situations, but she usually managed to muddle through, at least until the Doctor had leveled out and she could go destroy a few fleets of cyberships or something equally as destructive to release her pent up emotions.

“Alright Sweetie.” River said in as a soothing a voice as she could muster. “You’re making a list. And what good will that do?”

The Doctor laughed, an unnatural, slightly manic sound.

“I don’t know River.” She said, shaking her head through a smile. “Maybe one day I can show it to however did this to me.”

River saw the cracks forming, the smile fading from the Doctor’s lips as she spoke through clenched teeth.

“Maybe someday I can show they just how many lives their lies cost.” She spat.

River found a slightly angry Doctor kind of fun - incredibly sexy even. But when she got like this… River could barely stand to look at her for the hate radiating from her every pore. This is when her wife needed someone to remind her who she was, to not let her lose herself in the vortex of her hatred and self-loathing.

River slowly leaned forward, and the Doctor allowed her to pull the pad of paper from her clenched fists. The list was written in Gallifreyan, and the first set of neat circles caught her eye. It was River’s own name, the first word the Doctor had taught her to write.

“I didn’t die, my love.” Right said, surprised.

The Doctor’s eyes locked with hers, and River was suddenly met with the full force of the Doctor’s anger.

“Don’t you tell me that, River.” The Doctor said, her voice crisp but full of fire. “I felt your death every second for a thousand years.” Tears began to well unbidden from the Doctor’s eyes.

“I watched you burn.” The Doctor said, beginning to shake. “You disappeared. The place in the universe where you were was empty and I was left behind to wander this godforsaken universe without my hearts.”

River couldn’t bear to see her wife in so much pain. There may not have been anything she could do about it at the time, but she was here now.

She moved forward and wrapped her arms around the Doctor’s shoulders, tensed like stone beneath her. She hugged her wife close, willing her to relax into her, to feel how alive she was.

The Doctor pulled her head back to look into River’s eyes, searching for something.

“You were dead.” The Doctor said in shocked horror, as if she had just remembered this fact. She finally collapsed, relaxing against her wife and sobbing into the safety of River’s curls

River felt hot tears on her neck as the Doctor sobbed against her. Holding her wife close with one arm, she threw the pad of paper across the room – maybe a little too violently – with the other.

“I'm alive now, Doctor,” River said firmly. “I am alive now and you couldn’t have stopped me dying. I wouldn’t change a single thing.”

River guided the Doctor down into bed, curling around her. She held the Doctor as tight as she could, pressing her chest to her wife’s back so she could feel River’s strong, steady double heartbeats.

“The universe is better because you are in it.” River said. “I know it, and every single person on that awful list of yours knew it too.”

The Doctor continued to shake in her wife’s arms, but River knew she was listening.

“The people who lied to you, who kept you from who you are, are absolute bastards.”

If River ever got her hands on the people who had done this to her wife… 

But that’s not what the Doctor needed now. River realized she was speaking through clenched teeth, and took a deep breath, trying to steady herself so she could calm the Doctor.

“They took the decision away from you, Sweetie. It was cruel and it was violating, and it was absolutely wrong.”

“You are so used to being the one with the answers, but you couldn’t have known this, Sweetie. None of those decisions, none of those deaths are on you.”

The Doctor clung to River’s arms, and River planted firm, soothing kisses on her neck and shoulder.

After some time, the Doctor’s sobs became quieter, and her shaking slowly stopped. River continued whispering comforting words in her ear. She felt the Doctor teetering on the edge of sleep, exhausted from her tears and safe in her wife’s embrace. The Doctor might not know she was, but River did. Right now that was enough.

“I’m right here Doctor, you’re safe. Everyone is safe.” River whispered. “Sleep now my love.”

And she did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A comment is like a digital hug, and we all need some of those these days.


End file.
